1. Field of Invention
No historical description has been found or is likely to be found of the method used to raise heavy (average 2½ ton) stone blocks upwards for emplacement in the construction of a pyramidal structure in some cases more than 400 feet high.
Of the many books and articles on this subject, the consensus is that ramps of various shapes and of lesser slope than the sides of the pyramid were built to slide the blocks of stone upwards.
The method proposed here in my invention is not mentioned in any previous account of the ancient pyramids.
2. Description of Prior Art
Straight ramps of lesser slope than the sides of the pyramid are of a massive bulk to be constructed and then removed. The length of the haul and the volume of the ramp increases with a lesser slope. A spiral around the pyramid involves a bulky ramp and a far greater distance of haul as compared with a route straight up the side of the structure. Ramps involve massive amounts of friction to overcome. Massive friction must be overcome with massive manpower and massive amounts of time.
My crawler-climber, in comparison, offers a minimum distance of haul as well as being virtually frictionless.